


Crosswords

by erikahk



Series: Story Lottery Challenge [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, infirmary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-14 00:18:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1245670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erikahk/pseuds/erikahk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Rodney are in the infirmary. John wants to solve a crossword puzzle. Rodney doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crosswords

John narrowed his eyes and bit his lip. He shifted in bed, hiding a wince when his chest twinged slightly, then gave up trying to find a more comfortable position. 

"The capital of Romania," he said, not taking his eyes from the small book.

"What's the point of doing a crossword puzzle if you're just going to ask for all the answers?" Rodney said in an annoyed voice.

"I'm not asking for all the answers!" John turned and looked at Rodney who was sitting up in the bed next to his in the infirmary. 

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right."

"If you don't know the answer, just admit it, Rodney."

"I didn't say that!" Rodney almost sounded hurt. 

John stared at Rodney.

"Maybe you should ask a person from Romania and let me work, okay?" Rodney said, turning his attention back to his laptop.

"We don't have anyone from Romania in Atlantis." John waited for a remark in response. It didn't come. "Rodney!"

"What?" Rodney shouted.

"Do you know the capital of Romania or not?"

"How am I supposed to know that? I've never been to Romania!"

John sighed. "Then the smallest known mammal."

"The mouse from M2P-565."

"I don't think the editors knew about M2P-565 when they wrote this puzzle, Rodney."

"Well, lucky them," Rodney said as he resumed his typing.

John waited a few seconds before asking again. He bit his lip. "What about the fastest bird?"

"What part of _working_ don't you understand?"

"C'mon, Rodney. I'm bored." The little boy voice wasn't entirely unintentional.

"Then do Sudoku puzzles and stop bothering me." Rodney once more started to type.

"I finished them all."

"Then play chess with the computer." Rodney didn't bother looking up from his screen.

"The computer is boring."

"Then play with your PSP. That thing can keep you quiet for hours." 

"Teyla forgot to bring it."

"Ask her to bring it now." 

John was not impressed with the casual tone Rodney was using to deflect his answers. It only drove John further into trying to distract Rodney.

"She's busy taking care of Torren."

"Kanaan can look after him for a few minutes." Rodney didn't even raise his voice.

"He's away visiting his people for a couple of days."

"Then ask Ronon."

"He's busy sparring with the new Marines."

"Then sleep!" 

John smiled at being able to make Rodney shout again.

"I don't wanna sleep," he said in the most bored voice he could muster.

"Right, what you want is for me to go to jail."

John waited a beat. "What?" he asked, confused. 

"For murdering a fellow injured teammate in the infirmary."

"Oh."

"Besides, why do you want to solve this thing so badly? After what happened on the last mission, I would think that the last thing you would want would be word puzzles." 

"This word puzzle is in English, not Ancient."

"So? It's a word puzzle nevertheless."

"It doesn't try to kill me when I get the answers wrong." 

"But I will if you keep asking me for all the answers."

John sighed. "So, this means you don't know the answers either?"

Rodney glared but remained silent.

"And I thought you knew everything," John said, shaking his head and going back to the crossword puzzle. 

A few seconds passed.

"It is _not_ going to work."

Now, it was John's turn to continue scribbling and talk casually. "What's not going to work?"

" _That_! I still won't help you. Whether I know the answers or not is irrelevant."

"So, you admit not knowing the answers?" John kept his tone even and still didn't look up.

"I didn't admit anything! You're twisting my words."

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are."

"Okay, then you're just being selfish."

"What? Why? I'm not being selfish! You're the one who isn’t letting me work in peace!"

"And you are the one happily entertained with a laptop while all I have is this stupid book." John finally looked up.

"Ask one of the nurses to bring you something! I'm sure they'll jump at the chance of doing something to please you and get that smile that always seems to make them melt." 

"You're just jealous that they like me better."

"They like me too!"

"Really, which one?"

"Just because they don't flutter their eyelashes at me doesn't mean that they aren't taken by my wonderful personality." 

"Oh, I'm sure your _wonderful_ personality has them quite taken."

"Now, you're just being unpleasant." Rodney sulked and lowered his head back to his computer.

"And I can be a whole lot more unpleasant." 

Rodney looked back at John. "Is that a threat?"

John smirked. 

"Fine!" Rodney closed the lid of his laptop. "You can use my genius brain for five minutes before I go back to my work," Rodney said condescendingly. 

John would have made another smartass comment about that if he hadn't been so relieved to finally have some undivided attention. 

"The eighth algorism of pi," he said.

Rodney smiled. "Easy one, five."

John frowned. "I never thought I would live to see you getting pi wrong." 

"What do you mean wrong?" Rodney's arms dropped as he shouted.

"It's not five. It doesn't fit."

"Well, then that book is wrong! Pi, three, one, four, one, five, nine, two, six, five--" 

John narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Thanks, six fits." 

"But it's not six! Five is the eighth decimal of pi!"

"I didn't say eighth decimal, I said eighth algorism." 

Rodney opened his mouth and closed it two times before speaking. "That's just unfair." He crossed his arms again.

"Okay, now, the first computer." 

"How many letters?"

"What, you don't know the answer right away?"

"There's a lot of controversy over which machine should be considered the first computer."

"Right, five letters, starts with 'EN'."

"Okay, then it's the ENIAC."

John smiled. "The star of 'A Time to Kill'."

"How am I supposed to know that?" 

"Then, the driest desert."

"Atacama."

"The name of a cartoon starring three genetically engineered sisters." 

"What? They have a cartoon for that?" 

"Apparently."

"Well, we don't have a lot of cartoons in the Pegasus galaxy. Next one."

John laughed as he made a list of hints to throw at Rodney. Whether or not he knew the answers was irrelevant. The exchange of words was all that mattered.


End file.
